How to handle admission stress

You are sweating and scared, with a thousand thoughts plaguing you per second — The pretty girl in the beige shorts looked thrilled to submit her forms. What’s wrong with me? Why is my form all scratched out? Why am I all nerves?

How much do you think that guy in the Prada shades scored in his boards? Oh no, look, those cool kids are staring at me... at my uncool pair of chappals?

Stop! Breathe.. relax.. breathe again. Yoga instructors will tell you that your breathing style is all wrong, but now is probably not a good time to remind you of something else you got wrong. Sorry, go back to breathing.

Dream destinationWe were staging a hypothetical monologue of what is going on in the minds of those countless 17-somethings who are out there praying to get through their dream college.

Most people don’t even make the cut-off for their dream colleges, but graduation is always the best time of their lives. Unless you make an exception to the rule, you will fall in love — with your college, your freedom, your friends and yourself.

As much as college is about the academics and the doors it opens for your future, it is also about you discovering how much of your future is actually in your hands.

Every time you map your route to class in an overflowing bus, you learn to hold your head a little bit higher. The first time you bunk class and head out for a date/coffee/movie you learn a little more about yourself.

Geek in my headWhenever I bunked classes I would confront the geek in me head on — I’d be so paranoid about the notes I’d miss and what the professors would say that eventually my two best friends, Anka and M, decided it was easier for them to bunk without me. All my ‘wild’ memories of college are vicariously acquired, but I promise to narrate them with a first-person thrill should anyone ever ask.

Tabula rasa is the magic of college, the blank slate it offers you to reinvent yourself. You can grow your goatie, get rid of the plait, become all girly or come out of the closet — the world is your oyster. Most importantly, six months from now, you would’ve figured out your life plan... again, maybe not. No matter what, it will work out eventually. For now, just remember to breathe.